


the art of crafting laser swords

by sareli



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Kyber Crystals, Lightsabers, POV Multiple, Post-Battle of Scarif, Post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-02 18:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13324374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sareli/pseuds/sareli
Summary: The Force flows freely through the Kyber, that much is known. All other knowledge about it was closely guarded by the Jedi, and most of it died with them. While in the midst of his search for a crystal with which to craft a replacement for his father's lost lightsaber, Luke Skywalker encounters two strangers in the caves of Ilum, neither knowing how they came to be there. As Skywalker painstakingly fashions his new weapon, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor try to piece together what exactly happened to them after the Battle of Scarif, and the ways of the Force become more illuminated and yet more intricate in the process...





	1. prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "canon-compliant" but obviously with a few key changes. kinda jyn-centric but luke's there too i guess. i'm not about to re-write any of the movies tho. your intrepid author has only a vague knowledge of """legends""", having never read any extended universe material beyond wookieepedia articles, and not planning on it anytime soon bc i'm an irreverent fake fan who only grew up watching the movies over and over (and over, and over...) anywayz, pls enjoy my ruminations on kyber crystals, the Force, lightsaber-crafting, and, in time, jyn and cassian's multiple unresolved tensions.  
> that is, if i don't burn tf out before finishing this, which would not be out of character for urs truly. also i reserve the right to change the title of this story whenever and as many times as i want  
> unbeta'd but u probably had that figured already

At first, there was searing light and scorching pain, and then… nothing. Except it couldn’t be nothing, Jyn suspected, on the very principle that she suspected anything at all. Still, there was no sound, no heat, no light. At the very same time, there was no silence, no cold, no darkness. There was only balance and connectedness and

_…Cassian?_

There was no answer, but she was certain. She could sense him nearby, his presence playing on one of the strings in the vast network in which she was also a thread. The thousands of other glittering alien presences in the web were unknowable to her, and yet at the same time, somehow part of her. Or was she part of them? She could feel them branching out like veins for miles in all directions.

Miles and yet heartbeats away, Cassian could feel the very same thing- that is- everything. Everything from the vast web of consciousness down to the gossamer thread which was Jyn, shimmering somewhere just within reach. Reassured by this knowledge, peace broke over him, and he settled heavy into a sleep like none he had ever known before.

Together, they dreamed.

Of Coruscantian spires burning bright against all memory, stretching up, up, up as if to break through the atmosphere, and within them the heart of an ancient order which had since been reduced to whispers, murmurings. Lost spirits doused like flame, their corporeal housings left lying against smooth stone, eyes glassy and unseeing forever. Abundance, then absence. Balance, then turmoil. Light, then dark. Their remains then scattered across the galaxy or otherwise destroyed: splintered, sheared, locked up, or shelled out for energy. If not, then hiding. In caves, untouched and still raw with the Cosmic Force. In sand-huts, in land speeders, cradled against hips and ribs and breastbones or cached in unassuming vessels. Waiting, waiting, waiting for a destiny to be lived out.

A face!

Two faces.

A looming shadow.

The light.

Then, bitter cold air biting through the heart almost as if breathed in through lungs, needle-sharp and icy. The sound of footsteps tapping against the mind almost as if absorbed through ears, hesitant and yet constant and getting closer, closer…


	2. stardust and the skywalker

When Jyn awoke, the searing light of the Death Star blast still seemed to burn in the backs of her eyes. Blinking, she waited for the glare to fade so that she could find purchase in the darkness. Curiously, all she felt was cold from the hard ground beneath her seeping into her shoulder, and the slightest suggestion of air against her face. No sand, no salty breeze, no scorching heat. The cracked ribs, splintered knees, and gaping wounds all whispered to her like a distant memory, or perhaps even a dream, slipping away even as she held them in the front of her mind.

Cassian, too. His face passed over her mind’s eye, along with the ghost of his arms curled around her, and his chin pressing into her shoulder. All evaporated into darkness, leaving behind an empty space almost palpable in its own right.

_Jyn?_

Determined to ignore the apparition in the form of his voice, Jyn pushed herself to sitting and then slowly to standing, wobbling on her legs as if she had just taken her first steps aboard a voyaging starship. As the glare over her vision gave way to her dim surroundings, she could make out an eerie glow in the distances on either side of her. Small, white crystals revealed themselves as her eyes adjusted further, embedded in the rocky walls and vaulted ceilings of whatever subterranean tunnel in which she had appeared to find herself. Her fingers jumped to curl around the pendant at her neck as she placed their familiar shape and luster.

A ripple of faint light moved through the little stones, urging her to move forwards. Upon her first step, the maze-like network of caves laid itself out before her, called to her mind’s eye as if from memory.

Strange, Jyn thought, for she had no idea where she was, and had certainly never set foot here before.

All around her, the crystals glittered warmly, almost as if in amusement, as if they knew something Jyn did not.

_Jyn._

Cassian’s voice whispered again, this time apropos of nothing. This time, Jyn listened, and an awareness bloomed in her chest that had been lying in wait. He was here, Cassian was _here_ , somewhere in this vast web.

_Cassian!_

_Jyn! It’s so cold…_

_Where are you?_

_I don’t know._

His presence faded from her mind, and she was left alone in the tunnels once again. Only now, she could hear footsteps.

Could it be Cassian?

Jyn sucked in her breath, listening intently for the sound. The steps were light, soft, almost hesitant, and growing closer every second. Her hand went to her belt, over the spot where her truncheon would be, but was instead maddeningly empty. She pressed herself to the wall and waited as the footsteps got louder and louder.

A figure appeared at the nearest opening, shaggy-headed and human-looking, frame bulked up by flight gear. He carried a helmet under his arm.

Was that… Rebel insignia emblazoned on its sides?

A tiny gasp escaped her, and immediately the figure was clued into her presence, although she had the strangest feeling he had already been aware.

“Hello?” He called, looking beyond her into the tunnel.

Slowly, she peeled herself away from the wall and stepped out in front of him. His face barely registered having seen her, except for a slight hardening of his gaze. Jyn got the hair-raising sensation that she had seen that face before.

“Who are you?” She asked, jumping on the chance before he could ask the same of her. “What is this place?”

“My name is Luke Skywalker. I’m training to be a Jedi Knight.”

 “I thought the Jedi were wiped out long ago.”

“As far as I know, they are, aside from myself.”

“You never answered my second question.”

“This planet is supposedly rich in the Kyber, which the Jedi use to craft their weapons.” Luke’s mouth twisted wryly as he gestured around him. “Although, it seems the wealth has long since dried up.”

Jyn frowned. “I seriously hope that wasn’t an attempt at being funny.”

“I’m being absolutely sincere,” he assured her, confusion bleeding into his tone just as his expression began to sharpen. “Why, what do you see?”

“Every inch of this cave is covered with crystals.”

Luke’s eyebrows rose almost comically in response. He cast his eyes around, beginning to nod.

“Of course,” he murmured, mostly for himself. “Yes, I feel it now. This whole place is… _alive_ with them. Mine must still be out there.”

“Have you been here long?” Jyn asked. “Have you seen anyone else?”

Luke frowned and shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. Have you lost someone?”

“A friend of mine, we… it’s a long story, but he’s here, somewhere. It sounds insane, but I _felt_ it.”

“This place is strong with the Force,” Luke said, inclining his head in agreement. “It’s only natural that your senses would be heightened here.”

“Do you know how to use it? Can you help me find him?”

Luke cast a glance over his shoulder. “…I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’ll do what I can. Here, sit down on the ground with me.”

They sat facing each other, legs folded.

“Now: close your eyes. Clear your mind. Focus only on your own breath, and the sound of my voice.”

Jyn tried her best, focusing on the sounds of air rushing in and pushing out of her chest, and the feeling of her ribs expanding and contracting as her lungs filled and emptied.

“Good. Now, try to isolate what it was you felt earlier, when you made contact with your friend.”

Right away, Jyn thought of that blossom spreading its petals in her chest, sweeping Cassian’s voice in with it. In her mind, she reached for it, startling it open and being subsequently pulled from her body through the veiny branches of this subterranean maze. All at once, it was like she could see Cassian in front of her, huddled on the ground and shivering.

“I see him,” she told Luke. “He’s… freezing. And badly.”

“It is cold in these tunnels,” Luke replied.

Funny, Jyn thought. She hadn’t noticed.

“I can see him, but I still don’t know where he is…”

Jyn thought back to those veiny branches she could very nearly see as if they were there on paper right in front of her. Those were the caves, she knew somehow, every inch of them laid out in her memory. If she could just search them…

_Jyn?_

“I know where he is,” she said, eyes snapping open as she leapt to her feet.

_I’m coming, Cassian._

Already having taken her first few steps, she whirled back around to face Luke.

“Come with me.”

“…What for?”

“You came here in a ship?”

“Yes.”

“Like I said before, he’s freezing. He needs help- help I can’t give him. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m not exactly carrying cold-weather gear on me. If you take him back to your ship, he could get warm.”

“I… I’m sort of on a journey of my own at the moment, one that may take me on a separate path from yours,” Luke warned. “That being said, I can’t ignore your situation. I’ll do what I can for him.”

“You have my thanks,” Jyn said, the words leaving her mouth in a breathless rush.

“Lead the way, Miss…?”

“Please, just…” She hesitates, considering the weight of trusting this familiar, friendly stranger. “…Call me Jyn.”


	3. cassian frozen

Cassian had lost track of how long he had been lying there, shivering violently against the icy stone floor. It had been some time since he had found himself unable to continue mustering the strength to stand, let alone sit. The glowing hint of Jyn’s presence somewhere close the only pinprick of warmth he had to cling to, the only thing he had to keep from drawing him into a deep slumber. (But _oh,_ the thought did grow more tempting with each passing click.)

_Jyn… where…?_

No answer.

It could have been seconds, it could have been hours before the sets of footsteps wavered into earshot.

“We’re getting close!” Called one voice. Familiar. Jyn’s.

Two blurred figures materialized in his vision.

“Cassian!” Her sharp shout cut deep into his ears, but it was perhaps the most amazing sound he had ever heard.

“J…j…”

His mouth would barely make the shape, his vocal chords failed sluggishly to push his voice out.

The world darkened, presumably because she had knelt in front of him.

“Shh, don’t try to speak. You’re all right now, I’ve got you.”

Her words came out in that coarse, clipped way of hers, but Cassian wanted to take them and wrap himself up in them.

A gasp was uttered from somewhere behind her, and another voice followed it, cutting through the frigid air. “ _Incredible._ ”

“What, look, what is it?” Jyn asked as she gently coaxed Cassian to sitting, taking most of his weight against her torso.

“My crystal, it’s… it’s just there. I thought I could hear it calling to me the closer we got, but-” A quick, sharp laugh bit into Cassian’s ears, and confident footsteps followed, revealing a figure clad in the bright orange of a Rebel fighter pilot. No matter how hard he tried, Cassian could not quite focus his eyes on the person’s face.

“ _Jjjjyn,_ ” He tried again, to a small amount of success.

“Come on,” She said. “Let’s get you warm.”

She helped Cassian get to his feet, with the stranger taking his other side, and together the three of them wound their way through the caves on a path that Cassian felt almost as if he could anticipate.

“About my ship,” the stranger said. “It’s not exactly a passenger jet. It’s an X-Wing, actually. I’ll need to call for assistance if you two are going to make it off this planet, but he can stay in the pilot seat while we wait.”

 _“He” is right here_ , Cassian thought, but did not dare attempt speaking.

“What about you, will you get cold?” Jyn asked.

“This flight suit is warmer than it looks. I was about to ask the same of you, you’re not exactly bundled up.”

Jyn was silent for a few long moments.

“Excellent observation, Master Jedi,” was all she finally said.

_Jedi?_

“Thanks, but ‘Luke’ will do just fine, Madame Jyn,” the stranger- _Luke,_ apparently- teased. Cassian was not particularly fond of his tone.

They came to the end of the tunnels and stepped out into a wide, bright space, awash in gold with the setting sun. Cassian closed his eyes against the sudden strong light. Beside him, Jyn gasped gently in his ear.

“What _is_ this place?” She asked.

“I’m not completely sure,” Luke admitted. “I believe it was built by the Jedi long ago to protect these caverns. The deposit of Kyber on Ilum is one of the last left untouched by the Empire’s insatiable thirst for energy, and I’m uncertain for much longer that will be true.”

“What makes you say that?”

“If I could find it… Let’s just say there are those in the Empire’s higher ranks much stronger with and far more practiced in the ways of the Force than me. They would have very little trouble sensing a place like this. I’m lucky it’s survived this long.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jyn said. “They mined Jedha dry of the stuff and tore a hole in the planet right where the Holy City once was.”

“Yes. A grave loss indeed. Though I had no idea at the time.”

“I was there.”

 _And me,_ Cassian thought, just as Jyn was saying “Cassian too.”

_(And Kay and Bodhi and Baze and Chirrut and Saw…)_

They stopped walking. Cassian felt Luke turn to face Jyn.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

When it became clear that Jyn would say no more on the subject, they began to move again.

“I only wish I had been able to stop the Death Star before such a tragedy had occurred,” Luke said gravely.

“It would take a whole fleet to stop that thing. More than.”

“In the end, all it took was one fighter.”

Jyn was silent for a while once again. “That makes a kind of sense, I suppose.”

They made the rest of the way across the vast room in silence.

When they reached the other side, Luke slipped out from underneath Cassian’s arm, and Jyn tightened her grasp on his waist.

“My ship is on the other side of this wall,” Luke said by way of explanation, thought it was not much of one.

“Well then, where’s the door?” Jyn shot back.

No answer came from Luke. Instead, a deep rumble broke out beneath Cassian’s feet, and the wall in front of them began to sink towards the ground, revealing an X-Wing fighter parked in the middle of a blizzard just outside.

“I’ll be right back!” Luke called over the howling of the wind, and disappeared into the storm.

Jyn pulled Cassian’s body around her so that they faced away from the opening, shielding them from the wind and settling them back against the wall. Cassian tried to hold his own weight as she lowered them to the floor, but he collapsed onto her at the last second.

“Sssorry,” he mumbled, trying to sit up.

“It’s okay,” she said, stilling him with a hand pressing against his shoulder. “You’ll be out of this soon.”

Cassian’s eyes proceeded to take that as permission to slam shut, sending him tumbling into a deep, dark sleep.


	4. blizzards and boltheads

R2 chirped exuberantly as Luke clambered back into the pilot seat.

“Not quite,” Luke replied once he had glanced at the readout. “There’s something we have to do first.”

The astromech issued a string of beeps and whistles that fell harshly on Luke’s ears.

“You’re _cold?_ You’re built to withstand the vacuum of space and you’re complaining about the _cold?_ ”

THE BLIZZARD, BOLTHEAD, proclaimed the readout.

“Just be glad you can’t get hypothermia.” Luke sighed. “We’ll be off this ice ball soon, R2, I promise,” he assured the little droid as he entered the sequence to open up long-range communications channels. Once he heard the faint static of an open line, he began to speak.

“ _Remembrance,_ this is Commander Luke Skywalker. Come in, _Remembrance._ ”

“Skywalker, this is _Remembrance_.”

“Requesting civilian rescue assistance in the Ilum system.”

“Are you all right, Commander?”

“Affirmative. I’ve picked up two civilians in need of medical assistance on the planet Ilum. My vessel does not have the capacity to extract them, requesting assistance.”

“Wait, over.”

“Roger.”

“Send your coordinates, someone will be out there to get you shortly.”

R2 chirped something probably along the lines of “COPY THAT” and got to work.

“Roger. Over and out.”

Luke disengaged from the channel and leapt from the pilot seat, landing softly in the snow. He jogged back over to the cave entrance and found his two companions huddled against the wall just inside, Cassian slumped over in Jyn’s lap, her hands curled protectively over his back.

Jyn looked up at Luke.

“He’s gone unconscious,” she said, betraying in her face only a fraction of the distress that welled up around her in the Force.

“Let’s get him to the ship.” Luke leaned down to help her hoist Cassian off the ground.

Once Cassian was secure in the pilot seat of Luke’s X-Wing, Jyn and Luke went back once again to take shelter from the storm, with R2 routing communications to the ship through Luke’s comlink. She sat back down against the wall, facing into the large, sunlit hall, and Luke followed suit. The light was fast fading, he observed, and just as quickly as it retreated from the hall, ice crept over the yawning maw of the opening to the caverns wherever the sun did not touch. If they had stayed in there much longer, they would have found themselves trapped by a sheet of ice thicker than durasteel blast doors.

Luke could sense the distress and worry rolling off of her in waves, her thoughts all ebbing towards the man currently stowed in Luke’s pilot chair.

“He’ll be fine,” Luke assured gently.

“How can you know that?” She countered, the jab behind her words coming from a place of deep-seated anxiety.

“I don’t,” he conceded. “But it’s what my feelings tell me to be true. At least, they don’t tell me he’s going to die.”

She pondered that for a few moments. “What if we already are?”

“I don’t take your meaning.”

“Forget I said anything.”

It was almost too easy to sense what was under the surface. Echoes of pain and adrenaline and the sheer determination of someone with nothing left to lose soared through her mind. The kind of terror that comes only with being faced with certain death (Luke would know), and finally… peace.

“You have been through a great battle,” he observed, to which she scoffed.

“Figured that much out, have you?”

“I can sense it through the Force. You’re practically exploding with it.”

“I’d rather you kept the Force _off_ me in the future, thanks.”

Luke shook his head, concealing a smile. “Doesn’t work that way.”

Jyn said nothing, merely regarding him with one of the most piercing gazes he had encountered since- well, since the first time he’d met Leia Organa.

“Ah, forget it, I’m doing a terrible job of explaining. But if it means anything to you, I’ve been through a great battle of my own. A few, actually.”

Jyn exhaled forcefully, slamming her back into the wall. “I’m happy for you, I really am, but I want nothing more to do with war.”

“I’m assuming you fought for the Rebellion.”

“How could you _possibly_ know that? Don’t tell me the Force told you, even I know that’s not how the Force works.”

“No, it was my helmet. My whole outfit, actually. I’m pretty hard to mistake for anything besides a Rebel fighter pilot.”

“I thought you were a Jedi.”

“Who says I can’t be both? Anyway, my point is that my outfit hardly seemed to bother you one bit.”

“I could be a neutral party. I could have nothing to do with either the Rebellion _or_ the Empire.”

“Except I already know you’ve been in battle with the Death Star. Listen, Jyn, you can trust me. We’re on the same side. I’m not going to hurt you, I swear it.”

Jyn did not grace him with an answer, resolving to stare straight forwards instead. Luke relented, sitting back against the wall and letting them finally lapse into wordlessness.

“You said in the end, all it took was one fighter,” she said after a long silence had passed between them. “To destroy the Death Star.”

“I did say that.”

“So it was, then. Destroyed, I mean.”

“Yes,” Luke said, unable to conceal the smile as he sat forward. “I’ll have to tell you all about how I did it some other time. But right now, I think we’ve got company.”

He held up his chirping comlink, and relief broke free from Jyn, though Luke suspected it was for more reasons than just the one. She jumped to her feet and moved to look for incoming craft while he stayed put to answer the communiqué.

_“Commander Skywalker, this is First Responder Shuttle One. Come in, Commander Skywalker._ ”

“This is Commander Skywalker. Go ahead, Shuttle One.”

_“We have just arrived in the Ilum system and are approaching the planet. Closing in on your ship’s location now, sir.”_

“Roger that, we’ll be waiting close by when you get here. Skywalker out.”


End file.
